Matt Brown On His Title Hopes: What I’ve Done Inside The Cage Speaks For Itself

UFC fan favorite Matt Brown has made his name in the promotion by putting on exciting bouts and displaying his ‘technical brawling’ en route to his current six-fight win streak. ‘The Immortal’ was forced to pull out of his bout with Carlos Condit in December last year, after having sustained a back injury in training.

Currently slated to face dangerous welterweight Erick Silva at Fight Night Cincinnati in May, Brown will look to further his case for a title shot against the young Brazilian. ‘The Immortal’ stopped by to talk with MMA Fighting this evening, check out what he had to say about his next opponent and his back injury:

“Jon Fitch and a few other guys are here with me in my camp, so we’ll have a good camp here in Syracuse. About a week before the Condit fight, I herniated two discs in my lower back. I was injured through half the camp, and I trained a little too hard. I was wrestling, I got bent over too far and it was too much.”

“I shed a tear when I had to pull out, it was one of my worst days. I just had to get up and get back in the gym.”

The injury curse in MMA is seemingly endless, but Brown still finds himself in a good position. Staying active is very important in such a fast moving sport, and his next bout could be explosive. Brown continued:

“I was a little bit surprised that I went from Condit who is number two, to Silva. Erick could beat anyone in the top 10 on a given day. Everybody knows how good this kid is; it’s not a drop in talent, but just in the ranking of the guy I’m fighting.”

Many fans were rallying for Brown to get a title shot after he got a win against Mike Pyle in 2013, extending his win streak to six. A common argument against that was ‘He hasn’t beat a top 10 guy. The announcement of his bout against ‘NBK’ seemed to be a happy medium.

“I don’t know what I gotta do (to get a title shot). It’s not my choice to not fight a top 10 guy; I beat six guys in a row, knocked out five…I think I could beat any of the guys at UFC 171, I can put on better performances and a better resume. Maybe I haven’t spoken up the right way, or haven’t fought the right guys. What I’ve done in the cage speaks for itself.”

If Brown can score an impressive win against Silva at UFC Fight Night 40, it would be hard to argue against him getting a title shot. Currently ranked at number seven in the official UFC rankings at welterweight, ‘The Immortal’ could prove his worth if he can score his seventh on the bounce.

“I like to train away from home so there are no distractions. I need to have that mentality, I don’t need to be at home banging my wife when I’m gonna be fighting soon.”